


Rule Four

by Valleyflower



Category: Angel: the Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Pre-Season/Series 02, Season/Series 01 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-17 03:35:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28967685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Valleyflower/pseuds/Valleyflower
Summary: There are few rules in Caritas, but those that do exist are printed clearly on the wall as you enter.No violenceNo threats or bigoted behaviourDo not blame the Host if your reading is not exactly sunshine and rainbowsAnd Rule four, written in red and underlined:NO SINGALONGS.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	Rule Four

**Author's Note:**

> everyone's probably ooc in this but I saw the opportunity for immense angst involving Lorne's power and I grabbed it with both hands. You know what they say, if you can't find the fic you want, write it yourself. Uh..enjoy!

There are few rules in Caritas, but those that do exist are printed clearly on the wall as you enter.

1.No violence

2.No threats or bigoted behaviour

3.Do not blame the Host if your reading is not exactly sunshine and rainbows

And Rule four, written in red and underlined: NO SINGALONGS. Unlike the other rules, which are simple common sense, this one seems unusual. It's newer than the others, too, tacked on like an afterthought. Most patrons simply shrug and accept it, but some ask the regulars what the hell it means. They just want to have some fun, why can't they join in with the songs? The regulars, without fail, winced before telling the story of a night at Caritas that was happy at first…

_"Cause I miss you baby, and I don't wanna miss a thing!"_

The blue-skinned demon finished singing, and the crowd applauded. The atmosphere in Caritas was wonderful tonight, and the investigators were no exception. Angel had just learnt he wasn't actually prophesized to die, they'd defeated the latest big bad, and for the first time in a long time they could relax. It certainly helped that the bar had an anti-violence charm in place, and nearly everyone in there was pleasantly tipsy. A round of applause trailed off as the Host(or Lorne to those who knew him better) walked up on the stage. "Well wasn't that wonderful! Barry Ln'krath, everyone, the luckiest demon in town!" He turned to Barry who was grinning and added more quietly "Go for it, tiger. You and that beautiful gal are destined to be." Barry practically skipped off stage, and the Host smiled and waved after him. "Now, that performance sure will be hard to top, but we've got a banger up next! Here all the way from Cave City, it's Krktal with Mr Brightside!"

Lorne got off stage to make way for a highlighter-yellow, feathered fellow, and slid into a seat next to Angel, Cordy and Wesley. They'd struck up a friendship with the green-skinned demon over a few visits to the bar, and Angel was grateful to have a demon friend. Sure, said demon may be averse to fighting, an empath and extremely camp, but there were some things that humans just wouldn't understand. The whole "having an ally who can read anyone's future" thing was a bonus, too. Lorne and Angel exchanged nods of acknowledgement before Lorne asked "So…what's got you in the party mood, Angelcakes?" Angel almost grinned and answered "Wes went over a prophecy again and turns out, I'm not destined to die!" Wesley picked up on the conversation and added, "The specific language used was very prone to mistranslations, and what at first glance said the souled vampire would die appears to have actually meant the souled vampire will live!" Cordy added, "We're not sure what exactly that is, but it's definitely better than what it was.." Angel held up his glass of O-neg for a toast and a whiskey and two cocktails joined him. Lorne sipped his Seabreeze and remarked "You guys are like peas in a pod, but I suppose the multiple near-death experiences will do that. Congrats on your new life, and on your translation skills Mr Rogue Demon Hunter.." They all laughed at that, Wesley looking a bit embarrassed but still finding it funny. It had certainly been an over-dramatic name, and the title of supernatural investigator fitted them all much better. Angel heard the demon on stage finish the long ramble he'd gone on before his song, and was about to nudge Lorne to make sure he'd noticed too before he saw that he was already zoned in, drink in hand. He forgot that the two of them had equally amplified hearing.

The crowd started clapping as the song started properly, and Angel joined in.

_"Coming outta my cave and I've been doing just fine-"_

Laughter rippled through the crowd at the ad-lib.

_"Gotta gotta be down, because I want it all"_

The crowd was getting into the song, and someone joined in. Angel felt a twitch from the seat next to him, but passed it off as something he'd imagined. It wasn't long until almost the whole crowd joined in, even Wesley belting out the lyrics.

_"And I just can't look, it's killing me!"_

Angel was just about to join in himself before he heard something. Someone breathing more rapidly than they should. It sounded like how Cordy or…or Doyle had sounded, just before a vision. He looked over worriedly to Cordy but she looked fine, catching his concerned gaze and raising an eyebrow before she looked to Angel's side and her expression went downright panicked. It didn't take him long to realise why.

Lorne.

The demon was shaking hard now, seemingly completely unaware of anything around him. He was gripping the glass in his hand like his life depended on it. Angel tried to get his attention, getting up to try figure out the problem. He crouched down in front of Lorne and looked straight into his bright red eyes, which were wet with purple-tinted tears. "Lorne," he said quietly, ",what's wrong?" Cordy had, by now, elbowed Wes to make him shut up, and the two were now watching with matching concerned expressions. Angel gave them a look meant to say "it's bad, but I don't know why" and turned back in time to hear an almost-silent strained whisper. "The…futures,too many _too many_ -" It only took a second for Angel to catch on. Of course, the empath read people through their songs, and the whole bar was singing right now. He turned back to Cordy and Wes. "It's the crowd singing along. All of them are broadcasting their futures straight into his head. Can you get them to-" he was cut off by the sound of a glass shattering. He looked back to the combination of Seabreeze and purple blood dripping on the floor, and looked up to see a numb, terrified Lorne staring at his bleeding hand before red eyes fluttered shut and Angel had to catch the demon as he passed out. The patrons of the bar quickly became aware that something was wrong, the ones who had already looked over at the shattering sound quickly alerting the rest to the unconscious demon in Angel's arms. Wesley had gone over to tell the bartender, a friendly Brachen demon named John, about the problem the moment Angel had told them. John nodded and shouted out "Bar's closed early, folks, sorry but you'll have to come back..erm...whenever we're next open!" The patrons left with a series of concerned glances and worried words, until the only people left were Angel, Lorne, Wes, Cordy and John, who was closing up the door. Lorne was still firmly unconscious, so Angel picked him up(he was surprisingly light for being as tall as Angel) and found a clear sofa to lay him on. There was no Big Bad to face or magic to find, so Angel decided to accept his position as Lorne-watcher and quietly waited on the sofa, acting as an awkward vampiric pillow to try dampen the effect of the twitching that hadn't stopped since the singalong started. Wes found a dustpan and brush to start picking up the glass on the ground, whilst John put away all the intact glasses that the patrons had to leave. Angel looked around for Cordy before he heard a quiet "hey" next to him and saw her with a bandage she'd somehow found, wrapping the purple-stained cut on Lorne's hand. "How did you find.."

"I always have one in my purse. Seemed like a good idea in this job." They both laughed quietly at that one.

It was around an hour later, when all four of them had finished their various tasks and were sitting on and around the sofa, that another shudder was accompanied with a very tired-sounding groan and Lorne finally regained consciousness. He looked around at the empty bar, then the people around, and finally directly up at Angel. "...what happened?"

"Well…some guy was singing Mr Brightside and the crowd joined in a bit, then you had a panic attack and passed out for an hour?" A look of resigned understanding fixed itself on Lorne's face. "Ah. That. Wait did you say an _hour_? Jeez, I've gotta-" his attempt to get up quickly failed when his legs buckled and Angel had to stop him from falling directly into a table corner. Whilst Angel was preoccupied with making sure the increasingly green demon didn't pass out again, Cordy said,"Wait…so this has happened before?" As the only answer Lorne gave was a quiet groan with his eyes screwed tight shut, John answered, "Yup. Lorney..is it okay if I call you that?" a mumble that sounded like an affirmative, "Lorney is a bit of an odd case. He's not so much an empath demon as a demon who happens to be an empath for reasons none of us quite understand."

"I didn't think Pyleans were an empath race.." Wesley murmured. John nodded and continued, "He's an anomaly. And as a result, he has none of the protective measures that empath demons have. Anyone sings, their destiny goes kapow straight into Lorney's head. Lots of people sing, lots of destinies all at the same time. Results in total brain overload, panic attack, loss of consciousness, bit of a seizure, migraine, whole shebang. Did I miss anything?" Whilst the rest of the gang looked shocked, Lorne added a slightly slurred," 'motional instability. An' vertigo." His hands were over his eyes, elbows resting on his knees, blocking out everything that wasn't necessary. Angel moved closer and Lorne leaned into him, probably trying to stop the world from spinning. Wesley took out the notepad he carried at all times and started writing. The method most of the books used to get information out of demons was torture, threats and vivisection, so to actually know the ins and outs of any type of empathic powers from the person gifted…he looked over at the exhausted Lorne on the sofa..or cursed with said powers, was quite the opportunity. The quiet scratch of pen on paper and the occasional residual twitch of a foot were the only sounds until John got up. "Uh…I better get going, there's a curfew where I live and if I miss it the family'll get worried. Are you guys gonna.."

"We can stay here, yeah." Wes looked up from his notes to nod, and Cordy nodded too. John breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks. Um…you gonna be okay?" Lorne looked up, smiled the most unconvincing smile in the history of smiles, and answered,"Always am, honey."

"Okay. Good. See you…tomorrow hopefully. Okay. Bye." John shut the door behind him and the weird vibes that even the humans could feel was gone. Angel, who had picked up on the Brachen's heartbeats going fast as anything, quietly asked "Does he.."

"Kind of. It's complicated. Kid's a whole mystery and I love him for it. He's…seen a lot of suffering. He gets scared." Angel nodded with understanding. Brachen demons had gone through a lot of persecution in their time, and as a result the whole species had a whole batch of trauma. They'd been killed in so many different ways that almost any suffering set off an automatic shot of anxiety.

"...he's scared the sight will kill you one day, isn't he?" Lorne nodded silently, leaning back into Angel's shoulder. Wesley was still writing, probably just his own thoughts at this point. Cordy, ever the practical one, asked, "So first what did any of that mean, and second, holy hell are you okay and do any painkillers work on…Wes?"

"Pyleans."

"Thanks, do any work on Pyleans because all those things John listed sounded so painful.." Lorne had shut his eyes tight shut again but answered, "First, Angelcakes can read romantic subtext because of heartbeats. And second, the world is spinning, there's a party of jackhammers and voices in my head, and speaking sounds like needles, but I'm used to it. And painkillers are a no-no. They…hallucinations. Couldn't see reality for a week last time. S'that it, sugar?" Cordy could understand the massive consequences of having any link to the Powers. They always knocked her out and gave her migraines too, so it only stood to reason that Lorne's would work in a similar way when he got overloaded. To have to suffer through all of that with no painkillers at all, though, and to be sent into a mental break when you try to make it easier…she shuddered. Angel had no idea how he had ended up as the designated headrest, but he wasn't going to argue. He could feel the twitching demon next to him gradually losing the energy, the pretense of normality that he'd been putting on. He knew the humans probably needed sleep, so he tried to communicate that as quietly as possible. This involved getting Cordy's attention(which was very easy since the two were almost telepathic sometimes) and doing a kind of awkward mime that translated to "I'm staying here, please get Wesley and go get some sleep, we will be fine". Cordy somehow understood the facial expressions and one handed gestures, getting up to tap Wesley on the shoulder and leave to go find a better place to sleep.

It was a few minutes before Angel felt the erratic twitching turn to shuddering next to him. He'd been told that his quiet murmur was comforting to people, so he started talking. "You can still hear them, can't you? The futures, the voices. All stuck in there screaming at the same time. And you know you can't change it. Lorne…what's happening?" Lorne looked up, and pale purple was tinting his face again. "They die. They d-die _here_. Men and guns and fear and I can't save any of them. They have _families_ , Angel, there'll be so much pain and all because of me-"

Angel held him tight through the sobs, whispering that it wasn't his fault, that it would be okay, that he would do everything he could to stop this from happening. He'd helped Cordy or Doyle through things like this before, when the visions arrived too late and couldn't save the victim. He had never been able to see future events, always living in the present and taking the advice of his seer friends, but he imagined that the weight of so many lives would be so heavy. And in Caritas, Lorne had said, the safe space that he'd created specifically to avoid more death- "...Lorne? How does it happen? I thought this place had a spell on it...I'm just asking so I know how to-"

"Humans." The word was teary and quiet, but Angel heard it plenty clear. "...oh." Soulful brown eyes met purple-stained red again. One set of breaths hitched and trembling, one set not there at all. Angel only bothered acting human around people who would benefit from that, and his current company certainly wouldn't. They held the eye contact as Lorne took a deep, shuddering breath. "...is it bad to be scared of them?"

"Of who?"

"People. It's…it's different for you, you can blend in whenever the sun's in, you look like them, but the rest of us? Th-they _kill_ us. When I first came here, from Pylea, the first person I saw took out a knife and tried to stab me in the chest. I made Caritas to give us a place where that won't happen, where anyone who comes in won't have to hide and will be free and _safe_ , and now- and n-now-" The shaking had started again, breathing too shallow for someone alive. Angel made an effort to restart his own to give Lorne a guide to follow, and after a few minutes it worked enough for things to go quiet again. The two stayed silent for a while, not needing to talk to understand the guilt, the fear. They both had human friends, both knew the spike of anxiety that came whenever another human found out about their existence.

"...what if I die too?" Lorne's voice was scratchy from exhaustion and crying. Angel felt a pang of…anger at humans being so close minded, of worry that the usually chirpy Lorne was in this state, of pure fear at losing another friend barely any time after he'd met him. " _I won't let them_. I help the helpless, human or demon, and I will not let _anyone_ take the only place so many innocents have to exist. I promise."

Lorne looked at him with such pure, resigned sadness that Angel felt like his soul would break. "You can't do that, Angel. You won't always be there to stop fate. But…but the fact that you'll try. That Wes and Cordy would too. It means a lot." he paused for a breath that still shuddered. "If…if they kill m-me. Move o-on. Help the other helpless. They d-didn't choose to be here like I did."

"..I'll try."

"Th-that's all I can ask of you."

The next day, Wesley and Cordy entered the main bar area and saw the two demons fast asleep. Angel was clinging onto Lorne like his life depended on it, and Lorne's face was still lined in purplish tear tracks. The two tried to walk past without disturbing them, but a floorboard creaked and two pairs of eyes simultaneously snapped open,one bright with fear until he became aware of which humans these were and the grip that automatically tightened on his arm before relaxing. Cordy shared a confused look with Wes and asked, "What happened after we left?" Angel opened his mouth to explain but quickly shut it when Cordy continued, "And don't use the it was nothing excuse on me, mister." Lorne moved to sit upright on the sofa, still keeping a point of contact with Angel. Cordy noticed, but didn't say anything. "Sugar, you know the way that sometimes those on high tell you about dozens of deaths of innocent people?"

Cordy paled significantly. "..oh. I'm so sorry.." The heavy silence was broken by a distant shout of, "Do you happen to have any Weetabix?" They all laughed, grateful for the interruption, and Lorne called back "In the top left cupboard!" The tension faded away, the walls went back up, and the Weetabix was served by a Brit who was very satisfied with finally finding some decent cereal. And if Lorne and Angel stayed close, the vampire trying to give whatever reassurance he could to a man whose whole world had been shattered with a single song, nobody mentioned it.

**Author's Note:**

> please leave comments and/or kudos, knowing people have read my writing gives me the happy chemical


End file.
